Swapped
by Cant Catch This
Summary: What if Naruto was born in Suna where as Gaara was born in Konoha. Naruto got Shukaku, and Gaara got Kyuubi. See how diffrent the story will differ.
1. Chapter 1

_"Blah"-speak  
blah'-thoughts  
__**"blah"-demon, boss, a god**__  
__**blah' -thoughts demon, boss, a god**_

_**Ok I reread this and realized there were a lot of mistakes I didn't notice…well I went back and fixed it up, hope y'all like it.**_

_Run. Run and never stop. If I stop I might die. So I must not stop. Kami, I hope I see tomorrow.'_ These thought, as grim as they are unfortunately, belong to a six years old. Yes you heard right, a six year old. The causes of these thoughts are not but three yards behind the child.

"You damn demon, the more you run the worse its goanna get." That was said by one of the four villagers chasing the boy. The boy in question is not but three foot one inch, red haired and green eyed. He is wearing a white t-shirt with a red spiral in the center, and some navy blue shorts. But in those green eyes are torrents of tears waiting to be spilled. Their lying, they will hurt me the same either way. If I can just rea-' "AHHH," a kunai ripping through his leg and his thoughts clouded his mind with pain and forced him to drop to the floor and cradle his leg the best he could while trying to stay in a little ball. Unfortunately he rolled in an alley while trying to roll up in a ball.

A Chunin standing on a nearby building, with his arm out stretched, was the owner of the offending kunai. "Looks like ya'll could use some help. Hehe," stated the Chunin. The laughs of the villagers were all the confirmation he needed. He jumped off the roof and stalked to the young child whimpering on the alley floor. The villagers, chuckling with glee, also advanced on their prey. At the sound of laughter, lifted up his head with the little strength he had left and said barely above a whisper, "Please, no, don't kill me. Why are you trying to hurt me? What did I do?!" All the monstrous looking people scowled.

But only the Chunin spoke, with anger and loathing weaved into his words, "What did you do? What did you do? You nearly destroyed our village six years ago. Caused people to lose loved ones, and children to lose parents! How dare you have the nerve to ask what you did, and plead for mercy you demon." The villagers all shouted in agreement, and not two seconds later they all began to beat upon the child. He was rained upon with punches, kicks, stabs with kunai and switch knives. Eventually, the blows stopped for a few seconds, but it would not last long. Two villagers hoisted the child's limp body up and against the alley wall. Up about five feet high. They accomplished this by standing on crates.

From there the other two villagers picked up his lifeless arms and made the back of his hands come to rest on the alley wall. With that finished they pinned through the wrists using the Chunin's kunai. The child's screams almost making the men deft, but pleasing their sick pleasures. The first two villagers now not supporting the child's weight, making the child's screams become louder. Next they put both of his feet next to each other and pinned those through the ankle each. By the time that was finished the boy destroyed his voice box screaming his heart out. The villagers and the lone Chunin had sick looking smiles on their faces the entire time. After they stood back to admire their work they got back to pummeling the small and broken body.

After about five minutes into the beating on the body hanging on the wall, the Chunin stood back and motioned for the villagers to do the same. With a second of hesitation and several questioning looks the Chunin answered the unasked question, "I am going back to my house. I have something I made for a special occasion such as this." The sickening grins came back three fold on all six members of the mob, and the Chunin disappeared. After twenty seconds ticked by with only the ragged breathing of the beaten child as noise, one villagers' face lit full of glee and said, "The ninja never said we couldn't stop beating the demon." The other villagers also got sickening grins on their faces and began to advance on the child once more. But before they could reach the kid, a popping noise alerted them of the Chunin. They turned around expecting some awesome ninja weapon made for destruction, but their gaze only found a crown made of thorns. The Chunin approached the villagers with apprehension, and spoke in a hurried voice, " Leave now, Anbu are coming to check out the screams, I will do some last minute touch ups and leave as well." The civilians nodded and took off at a run. With them out of sight, the Chunin stalked towards the almost dead child, and not so gently placed the crown of thorns on his head. He also grabbed a kunai out of his pouch, and slashed it across the boys cheat earning a short spasm of the boys' body. The ninja dipped his hand in the puddle of the boys' blood, and began to write.

**Swappedswappedswappedswapped **

_'It sucks not being able to sleep. I have nothing to do. I guess I can walk around the village. Even though Yashumaru said it wasn't safe for me to wander around at night, I'll do it anyways. Since when have I listened to what anyone has told me anyways?'_ With a determined nod, the boy left his room and went out of his uncle's house.

'_Crap, I'm lost,'_ thought the little blonde boy. _'Hey, I found a really big wall. Oh, what's that? It looks like a picture.'_ As he got closer to the wall, he noticed the picture was in fact a drawing of a red scorpion_. 'This looks cool I wond-'_ His thoughts were interrupted because the very moment he touched the scorpion the ground underneath his disappeared.

"WEE!" The boy yelled_. 'This is awesome; I've never been on a slide before. I wond-'_ Again his thoughts got interrupted by an unfortunate event happening. The slide ended and the boy shot out of a hole in a long corridor. The entrance to be exact. _'Dang, I wanted to slide some more. Oh well, lets see what is at the end of this hallway is. Maybe it's treasure!'_ As the child began to skip along the corridor, he never noticed the wire he broke under his foot 'till it was too late.

Arrows, drenched in poison came rocketing out of he walls, all heading remotely close to were the child is at. At the first sight of the arrows, the boy's eyes widened with fear, and closed them, waiting for death to embrace him. Fortunately, right before the arrows could pierce the child's flesh, a dome of impenetrable sand shot up around him.

After a moment of not feeling searing pain shoot through his body, he cracked open one of his eye's. He was met with the tan color of his sand. _'How can I forget about my sand? It is my mothers love for me. Yashumaru said so.'_ With a smile gracing his features, the boy now identified as the Shukaku's host, moved the sand out of his way with a swipe of his hand, and continued down the hallway.

After a few more traps, which got more deadly the further he went, he reached an old wooden door with an enlarged picture of the same red scorpion as the one at the big wall. After a moment to admire the picture, he pushed open the door using his sand, because it was too heavy for himself alone. Inside was another corridor, but the walkway was split into three ways, all were labeled; the one on the right was labeled Rest. The one on the left was labeled Food. The last one in the middle was labeled Training. Since we couldn't sleep, nor was he hungry, we walked down the corridor labeled "Training". When he came to another door, he found a note tacked onto it. It read;

_Dear shinobi of Sunagakure,_

'_You finally did it. You have found your prize. In this room there are all the training manuals you will need in order to become a puppet master. In this room you will learn about poisons, seals, battle puppets and human puppets, and even the few jutsu I used and collected. Once you complete this training, seek me out. I wish to face a real puppet master in battle. To test my limits. So train and train hard. Because if you don't find me, I will find you. My name will become legend, I am Sasori of the Red Sands, Akasuna No Sasori! The greatest puppet master to walk this planet!'_

_'Wow, this guy is a freak. Oh well, he gave me good training material, might as well put it to good use. What's a battle puppet?'_

When he opened the door, he was floored with how much he is going to learn. There were three shelves four times as tall as he was, and he was four foot tall!! There was also almost a hundred creates varying in sizes, shapes and contents. Racks lined the walls, hung on them were what looked like human limbs, but upon closer inspection were overgrown wooden puppet pieces. _'Wow, you can actually make a life-sized human shaped puppet with these parts. Maybe that's a battle puppet. Then what's a human puppet?'_

Then there are several tables, all have different tools on them, some even have poisons. After he explored the workshop some more, he went back to the shelves, went to the shelve labeled "Beginner" and got the book titled, "Shinobi 101" and ran back to one of the desks with chairs to sit down and read. After reading for a couple of hours, he put the book down and walked to the door and left the room.

When he got back to the forked pathway, instead of leaving he went to the room labeled "Food". When he got there, he opened the door and found what looked like a common looking kitchen with several cook books and ingredient, and the basic necessities, forks, spoons, knifes, ECT….

After a quick meal of plain rice and fried fish, he returned to the work room.

_This routine continued for five months before he returned to his uncle's home, looking almost exactly how he left. But what he couldn't see was that the little Jinchuriki was carrying_ _five scrolls hidden on his person._

**Swappedswappedswappedswapped**

"Please Jiji!"

"No"

"Why not?! Why won't you let me leave?" Sitting in the Hokages' was of course the Hokage himself, and a little red head that went by the name of Gaara Uzumaki. Currently, the mentioned red head was glare for all his worth at the aged Kage.

Sarutobi sighed, "I am truly sorry Gaara, but I just cannot allow you to leave Konoha." _'Your much to important my little Jinchuriki.' _But that only fueled the jinchurikis' already impressive anger to new heights, "Why not! For all the suffering I endure every freaking day I deserve at least a solid answer! Give me that much!"

The old Hokage sighed again, "Gaara, you are much too young to know I'm afraid, so I cannot give a reason other than you leaving Konoha would break my old heart." At that, Gaaras' eyes softened considerably.

Then, after a moment of silence, Gaara sighed as well, looked down hiding his eyes with his red bangs, "Alright Jiji, I wont leave," he then raised his head, eyes full of determination, "but if I cant leave this place and get away from my tormentors, I will just become strong enough to defend myself and anyone I deem important enough to me!"

'_Now that is something I was hoping to hear,'_ grinned the old Kage, "That Gaara, is something I can live with, and as much as I would love to teach you, I can't." Seeing the little boys' eyes grow large and the anger grow, just seconds away from erupting from his little mouth the old monkey added, "But there is something I can do!" Eyes' shrinking and anger melting away allowed the Kage to sigh in relief and continued, "What I am about to give you is very valuable, something many your age and older would kill for!" Sarutobi grinned seeing the shell shocked look on the child's face.

He opened his desk drawer, pulled out a slip of paper and began to write on it. Once finished, he pushed it over to the little boy so he could see, "This, Gaara, is a library pass," again the anger began to surface, "but not just any library, the shinobi library." That statement washed the anger away all at once, replacing it with excitement, which Gaara futilely tried to cover up with a nonchalant facade. This failed exponentially.

Sarutobi then gained a stern look, "Now Gaara this is not something you should flaunt around like a prize, this is a once in a life time gift. Meaning I wont give you another one if you lose this one, do I make myself clear Gaara Uzumaki?" The aforementioned red head snapped to attention, "Hai Hokage-sama!" The Kage relaxed and smiled once more, "Good, now take this slip and show it to the person that will be sitting behind a desk inside the library at the entrance. Don't worry about finding your way to the library, I will send one of my guards to show you the way. Have fun Gaara, and good luck with your training."

Gaara, trying to act mature, calmly walked up to the front of the desk and tried to reach for the piece of paper he couldn't see. The desk was almost three inches taller than him! The old Hokage chuckled to himself, and pushed the paper into the child's groping hand.

Gaara chuckled nervously, backed up a couple steps and bowed, "Thank you Hokage-sama!" The ninja leader smiled again, and waved him off. "Go child, before it gets too late in the night." Gaara nodded, and calmly walked to the door. As he was leaving the office the Hokage stopped him again, "Oh by the way, you are only allowed to go into the academy student section of the library and you cannot go further until I see for myself that you have mastered to standard curriculum that an academy student needs to know to graduate the academy." Gaaras' body then anime style crashed into the ground, "You could have told me that earlier."

The Sandaime just smile again. After picking himself up, Gaara half turned his body towards the Hokage, smirking, "You can bet I will have mastered that curriculum by the end of the year."

"Hoho, that's a bold statement, you sure you can do it?" teased the Sandaime. "What are the stakes, Old man," Gaara continued to smirk. _'Cocky little brat, I'll show him to the mess with the 'God of Shinobi' _"Hmm, since your so confident if you lose you have to help me do my paper work and be my little assistant/chore boy for two months!"

Gaara grimaced, '_Maybe I went a little overboard. Hmm oh well I said it, now I got to back it up' _"Alright, and if, hrm excuse me, when I win?" The Kage pondered for a moment, '_hmm a jutsu maybe…naa, too simple…how bout…ya that would be good…' _"Ok Gaara, IF you win I will buy you one weapon from any weapons smith in Konoha!" Gaaras' almost went into cardiac arrest after hearing that. '_Holy son of a butt monkey! There's no way in HELL I'm losing this bet now!' _Quick composing himself, "Alright Jiji, I agree to your terms. Start saving your money, 'cause come the end of this year, you're going to be buying me a weapon of mass destruction!"

Sarutobi just chuckled, '_I hope he soon realizes that's its July…oh well not my problem ku ku ku!'_

'_Unfortunately for Sarutobi, Gaara did master the standard academy curriculum in the five month time frame. He could name every major nation and the major hidden villages that occupied them as well as many other small nations and hidden villages. He knew of several bloodlines, not just from Konoha but also from Kiri, Iwa and Suna. He excelled at mathematics. Was very proficient with kunai and shuriken. Also, could perform all three academy jutsu with ease. The bushin was mastered only because of Gaaras' constant training on charka control. When Gaara approached him on the last day of December, Sarutobi began to silently weep to himself. Either from happiness that Gaara was determined enough to technically graduate from the academy legally, or from great sadness from the knowledge that Gaara was going to financially break him. No one knows for sure.' _

**Well, im trying it again…haha well I hope to get it past 4 chapters this time…**


	2. This is a real chap!

"Gaara Uzumaki! You're up next."

Said red head sighed to himself while standing from a desk situated close to a window. _'I can't believe how easy this test is going to be. I mean seriously, we are going to be ninjas for crying out loud! To graduate from the academy we should know more than just three E ranked jutsu!'_

Before he realized it, he was already in the testing room, standing in front to the test proctors. There were three proctors total, all lined up shoulder to shoulder. All three were garbed in traditional chunin uniform and each held a clip board and pencil.

"Ok Gaara, to pass the graduation exam you need to complete the following; perform the three basic academy jutsu, receive a satisfactory on kunai and shuriken throwing and to pass the taijutsu portion of the exam. Is that understood?" this was all said by the chunin in the middle. "Crystal, sir," while inwardly, '_Hmm, while harder than what in anticipated, still fundamentally easy for me.'_

"We will start with the jutsu first. Use the '_Substitution Jutsu'_ first, then the _'Transformation Jutsu' _and finish with the _'Clone Jutsu'_. This test is not timed, so you may take how ever long you need."

Gaara just nodded, closed his eyes then 'poof' a cloud of smoke coved the spot Gaara was previously at. Now in his place stood an impressed chunin whose original spot, which was to Gaaras right when facing all three, is now occupied by an exact copy of the chunin on the other side of the chunin in the middle.

"Well that was impressive, but where may I ask is your clone?"

The 'chunin' on the right smirked and pointed at the chunin in front of them. All three real chunin looked confused until the one lonely chunin moved to the side reviling a clone of Gaara waving to them.

All three chunin were impressed by the show provided for them, "Again I congratulate you. You have show mastery over the three basic jutsu that not many other students show. You have received top marks, good job." Again this was all said by the chunin in the middle, once the lonely chunin assumed his original position. "Now we can begin the accuracy portion of the exam." They then lead Gaara outside to the target range.

"Alright, there are targets all over the range, some easy to spot, others that are not. You are given twenty kunai and twenty shuriken. There are plenty of enough targets to use all forty of your throwing equipment, so you shouldn't have any left over. This one is timed however, so you only have three minutes to use all you projectiles. In order to pass you have to have at least seven of each projectile in the third ring of a target and there are five rings in each. Good luck, I hope you can impress us once more."

Those instructions were said by the chunin who our favorite red head swapped places with during the jutsu exam, who is now standing in the middle of the other two chunin.

Again Gaara nodded once, and stood right behind the safety line. The chunin raised a stop watch and clicked the start button, "BEGIN."

With out a moments hesitation, he began to throw his weapons left and right. Barely a minute into the test he already finished. Once more the chunin we stunned to silence by his display. After composing themselves, the lone chunin administering the test entered the range to tally his score. He returned completely passive.

"Now onto the taijutsu portion of the exam," they lead him to a fighting ring close to the range, "here you will be sparing against me. Your goal is not to beat me but to hold me off for two minutes. You will be graded on tactics, your taijutsu skills and your stamina. I do hope you do not cease to amaze us." The other chunin nodded along with their college. This was said by the chunin that Gaara transformed into in the ninjutsu test. Once the chunin and genin hopeful were ready at the center of the ring, one chunin off to the side raise a stop watch, clicked the start button, "BEGIN."

The chunin immediately rushed forward at a reasonable speed. Gaara hurriedly dropped into a defensive stand, ready for everything.

**(Ok guys(and girls) sorry to interrupt, but I got to say this is like my first fight scene, and I apologize if it sucks as bad as I think it will)**

The instructor threw an immediate right hook, fortunately Gaara ducked and rolled under the arm jumping a few feet away from the chunin to get some space. _'Ok, this guys stronger, faster and way more experienced then me. And because of my show boating earlier in the exam, he's also cautious…damn. I just have to keep on evading and hope he doesn't speed up and force me to retaliate…I don't particularly want to be covered in bruises at the end of this test.' _

Chunin turned around in a flash and jumped forward, intending to pulverize the little red head. Ducking under a quick jab to the face, and then blocking a kick which sent him tumbling to the side. Quickly jumping to his feet, he steadied himself, ready for another quick escape.

Deciding to pick up the pace a little bit, the chunin rushed forward a bit faster. Gaaras' eyes widened a fraction, _'Crap!'_

This time, he pushed the offending fist to the side, away from his face, side stepped away from the kick, then slugged to chunin in the face making him stumble away. This allowed the genin hopeful some breathing space and time to asses the new situation, _'Crap, now he's really going to come at me hard! Ugh, I'm going to be in a lot of pain after this.'_

As he anticipated the chunin was mad, _'Little shit, now I'm going to have some fun with you!' _Rushing forward again, this time at a higher speed, he managed to get behind the kid then tried to kick his head off.

Tried being the key word. Once more he ducked, this time he put both hands on the ground, then mule kicked the chunin in his chest sending him skidding away. Rubbing his chest, the chunin growled and prepared to rush ahead again. Unfortunately for the chunin, the other chunin called for them to stop, meanwhile smirking at their fellow chunin.

"Alright Gaara, good job. Now that that is finished, return to the class room to wait for the results." Gaara straitened himself out, nodded then began his trek to the classroom.

'_At least I'm not covered in bruises.'_

****

"Ok class, this," here the chunin speaking, the first instructor, pointed to a piece of paper with words on it that Gaara couldn't see, "Is the ranking for the final exam, I have taken the liberty to make a copy for every one person in this class, so don't lose it if you wish to keep it. Your grades from any year prior do not affect your ranking. Unless of course you scored so low in the beginning we had to drop you from the program, but that doesn't concern any of you." With that, all the papers were passed out.

When Gaara received his, he immediately searched for his name. Fortunately, it didn't take long. He was the number one rookie! One year at the academy and he graduates at the top of his class! He couldn't wait to meet his teammates and sensei.

"Alright brats, enough chatter!"

Looking around, he noticed that throughout his excitement, he didn't notice the entire class (minus him of course) was hurriedly conversing about their rankings. Some angry over the fact they didn't get the place they wanted, others joyful that they placed as well as they did. He also noted that several of the newly promoted genin were looking(whispering) at(about) him. A couple also looked angry at him for some reason.

'_Oh well, It's not like they would do anything anyway. I think.'_

"Sir! Before we're dismissed, I wanted to ask, where is Ūshowarai-sensei_(1)_?" A girl to my left asked. The girl, Madokawa_(1)_ Uchiha, was your average looking Uchiha. Well, as far as facial features go. Head, eye, ear and even nose shape well all typical of an Uchiha. Even that damned smirk that every Uchiha receives during birth was present. Her clothing, how ever, was far from your typical Uchiha. One glance could prove she was a rebel. Clad in high heels (like the ones Tsunade wears), and a fishnet body suit. Covering that is a skin tight black shorts that reach down to an inch above her knee. Around her right thigh is white medical wraps, and over that is a dual kunai pouch. On her knees are white knee pads (like Sasukes' elbow pad his has during the chunin exam). Her top is also a skin tight long sleeved turtle neck. Black of course. On the right side of the neck was a small red and white fan, the Uchiha symbol. Over the turtle neck she wore body armor. Two piece chest plates and a one piece stomach plate. The armor covered the chest, in two pieces, the shoulders, triceps, elbows and forearms. Steel plated fingerless gloves encased her fists. Over all of that, she wore a long tight fitting coat with the arms ripped off. She was an obvious taijutsu specialist. She usually wore sleek black glasses, but because of being indoors, she chose to forgo her usual. She had them securely placed atop her head. She wore her hair down behind her head tied in a ponytail, which reached about mid-back level.

"He is currently on an emergency mission for the Hokage." Madokawas' expression turned puzzled, as did almost everyone else's, "Couldn't some other chunin or even a jonin handle it? I mean, it's the genin graduation exam, its kind of important." The chunins' face remained impassive, "The mission wasn't important enough for a jonin. Ūshowarai was the only chunin available that was qualified to take that particular mission. All other information is classified, so no more questions!" Madokawa pouted. The chunin faced the class once more.

"You're all dismissed, return in two days at zero nine hundred hours to receive your team placements and squad leader. Now get outta here!"

Unlike most of the other newly instated genin, Gaara calmly stood up and walked out of the classroom, hoping to make time for some extra training. When he got outside, he got ten more steps before he was stopped.

"Hey pipsqueak!" This came from one Hitomashii_(3)_. He was an average ninja overall, maybe a bit above the norm, but still considered average. Although his ninja skills weren't great, he was very bulky, and considered the bully of his year. Around his were two other neo-ninjas. Fushū_(4)_ and Mihakken_(5)_. Fushū was placed in top five, where as Mihakken was placed somewhere on the bottom. "We all know you cheated some how, and we're here to teach you a lesson, isn't that right boys?" The other two nodded in confirmation. Gaara sighed, _'You got to be kidding me. Sigh, oh well at least it will provide me with some training. If it isn't entertaining, I'll finish them quick and go train for a bit.' _

"Alright monkey-butts, show me what you got. Try not to disappoint me too much, alright?"

All three neo-shinobi bristled at the comment. What really set Hitomashii off wasn't the comment, no it was the _superior _and simply _uncaring _look, like they weren't even worthy of his attention. That really pissed him off!!

Without any other warning, he charged. "Ahhh!" fist raised, ready to pummel the gaki mocking him. As soon as he reached Gaara, the gaki disappeared from his line of sight. _'Wah?" _Was his last coherent thought before he was sent flying through the air, head tilted back, blood flowing from his mouth. Everyone watched as the boy flew threw the air. His landing wasn't graceful, no it was harsh with a sickening _crunch_ accompanying it. Everyone winced, well except the little boy now occupying the spot previously occupied by the formally air-born boy. Said little boy was in an interesting position. Most of his upper body was near the ground, with his right hand helping to support all the weight. His left leg however was raised in the air, almost completely vertically in the air, except for a slight degree.

Realizing that the little boy, Gaara, was responsible for their comrade to fly, both boys reacted differently. One, Mihakken, was fearful of Gaara, after coming to the realization that he was most likely stronger than him. Fushū however, was excited. _'I can't believe Gaara is this strong. How didn't I notice this before?! I have to fight him!' _Thinking this caused him to rush forward. Seeing his other comrade rush to attempt to fight Gaara, Mihakken hesitantly joined him in his rush.

Lowering his leg, Gaara began to prepare himself for a hopefully brief fight, _'Hopefully this will end soon…or at least more interesting than the last guy.'_ Jumping over Fushūs' leg sweep, Gaara tried a heel drop on his back. Unfortunately, Mihakken was there to cover for Fushū, causing Gaara to twist away. Jumping back to get some space, Gaara tried something else. This time he rushed forward.

Dodging another fist to his head his threw a quick body shot, which was blocked by a raised leg. Grabbing the leg, he pulled him off his feet. Sensing an attack from behind, Gaara dodge-rolled to the side, he quickly recovered to see Mihakken quickly getting back into a ready stance, balancing himself after a failed flying kick. Rushing forward, intending to take them by surprise, he was surprised to see a foot quickly trying to attach itself to his face. Jumping back at the last moment to see Fushū in a position similar to his own when he took out Hitomashii, except his foot was more horizontal.

Growling, '_This is starting to annoy me, better end it quickly.' _Flashing forward, surprising the hell outta Mihakken, he slammed a fist down on Fushūs' head, sending it onto a crash course with planet earth. His head bounced once, landed on the ground again, his entire body following it, and didn't rise. Mihakken stood petrified. "Are you going to continue this?"

Mihakkens' eyes snapped to Gaara, widening even more with freight. "N-no-o s-sir!" Gaara nodded, "Good, 'cause I got more important things to do than fight with you. Goodbye." He the continued on to his original destination, the training grounds.

Mihakken stood, petrified. All the bystanders stood, freighted as well. Although as soon as Gaara was outta sight, they all began to converse about said red head.

One particular bystander in particular was amazed, _'Should have guessed he was strong. He's eight for crying out loud and he graduated at top of the class no less! Those guys were idiots for trying to pick a fight with him, thinking it would be an easy win. Holy Kami! He's practically a non-Uchiha Itachi! I gotta tell him he's' got competition!'_

****

**Ok guys(girls) if you haven't noticed from last chap, I'm back for good!! I plan on finishing this story…hopefully haha. Yeah well I would really appreciate some reviews please…it really helps motivate….even though I got most of this planned, it helps make the ideas flow…yeah im sure you hear this all the time, but its true…showing you like this story really helps motivate authors do better then ones that just update with no feedback…ok well thanks and enjoy!! Hmm I know there was something else I was gunna say but I can't remember…oh well **

**Oh yeah;**

(1); Ūshowarai: Hollow Laughter

(2); Madokawa: Trailquil River

(3); Hitomashii: Annoying Person

(4); Fushū; Unknown

_(5); _Mihakken; Undiscovered


	3. Chapter 3

Silently, so as to not alert the target of his approach, a young boy about the age of 10 crept up the hallway stairs. He stealthily made his way down the hall to a door not to far down. This young ninja to be is Kankuro. Quickly approaching the door, he grasped the door knob quietly, beginning to turn it open. However, before it was fully rotated, a voice called out halting his every move, "Is there something you need?"

Paling dramatically, Kankuro opened to door just enough to fit his head in, "Umm, s-sorry to disturb you, but b-breakfast is ready." Naruto sighed, "Alright ill be down in a minute." Nodding quickly, Kankuro shut the door and ran back down the hall for breakfast.

_'Sigh, that was a close one. I almost didn't sense him quick enough to hide my notes. Hmm, why aren't I telling anyone about my puppetry skills again? Oh ya, Ji-Gyūraba-sensei(**1**) wrote something 'bout necessary skills a ninja must have, like….wow I can't really remember. All I'm sure about is that I shouldn't reveal the fact that I can use puppets unless I really have too. Or something to that effect.' _Scratching the side of his face, Naruto began to rise from his seat.

"Well better hurry down stairs before Kankuro eats all the food!" and he was gone in a swirl of sand.

* * *

*SMACK* "OW! Temari, what was that for?" Kankuro whimpered, cradling his injured hand. "No one eats until everyone is at the table," the Young girl stated firmly, arms crossed and a glare directed at her brother. "It's their fault for taking so long, "he grumbled to himself. Temari's eye's narrowed, "Care to repeat that?" Silence answered her. Temari sent a smirk in response. "Who are we waiting for?" a voice asked. Spinning around to face to speaker, her eyes widened in surprise.

There, sitting in a previously unoccupied chair, sat Naruto. He gazed at his sister with an uncaring look. After a while, Naruto began to feel uncomfortable, faking a small cough into his fist to brake the silence, Snapping out of her daze, Temari colored in embarrassment. Casting her eye's downward she muttered, "I guess we can eat now." After several tense moments of silence, Naruto spoke up, "Soo, umm...what did yalldo while i was gone?" The older two siblings glanced nervously at one another, "Train..." was the near simultaneous reply. Naruto sweat dropped, a little unnerved. _'Creepy.'_

Naruto didn't chance another attempt at a conversation.

* * *

"How?"

"Hmm?" Halting mid-strike, Gaara slowly lowered his leg that was originally going to strike a log-post in front of him.

Madokawa frowned, "How? At the beginning of the year you were an average student. Not remarkable, but not a flunky. Yet come the exam you become the strongest of us all. Were you hiding your skills this whole time?" She slowly began to trek towards the eight year-old.

Looking down, "What does it matter to you 'Oh mighty Uchiha'? Jealous?" He looked up with a smug smirk. Madokawa's glare could have ignited water on fire, but had no effect on the young prodigy. Shoving her anger aside for a later date, a smirk once again graced her face, "Call me curious. How did a nobody like you gain so much strength so quickly?"

A frown flashed across Gaara's face, but was quickly covered up with an indifferent look, _'sigh, I was hoping that would have sent her storming off, oh well.' "_I trained my ass off, happy?"

Madokawa frowned at the answer, "No, apparently I just going ta' beat the information outta' ya', gaki(**2**)**"** smirking, she shifted into her fighting stance. _'Hope he takes the bait. _He_isn't gunna watch us forever.' _

Snorting, Gaara turned back to the training log, "Please, you're hardly worth my time." _'If she's really dead set on fighting me, I would rather her be pissed off and sloppy, then calm and collected. Well now I just wait. Either she leaves, or I get a good work out.' _

Madokawa didn't disappoint, '_Oh that gaki is gunna get it now! Chaa!' _Rushing forward, fist cocked and ready to pummel the brat who dared underestimate her skills. It barely took a second before she was on him; she quickly brought her fist down on her shorter opponents head. She smirked, _'Ha teach you to talk down to me-ack!' _Breaking the thoughts was the cold, unforgiving ground. Madokawa's eye's widened, '_What the hell. I didn't even see him move!' _

Her face was on the ground, posterior in the air with an arm twisted behind her back. She could feel a small foot pressing onto the small of her back, holding her in place. The owner of the offending foot was ginning above her.

"A word of advice when fighting me," She could practically _hear_the smirk in his voice, "don't blink." Releasing her arm, he stepped back. Before she even began to stand back up, a boot shoved her in her arse, causing her face to once more become acquainted with the ground. "Try again" Jumping back, Gaara barely avoided the fist that wished so dearly to meet his face. Madokawa had a look of murder upon her face. "I'm gunna kill you GAKI!" She rushed forward again.

Gaara smirked, falling into a loose ready stance. Every punch was evaded. Every kick was brushed aside. Finally fed up, she attempted at fly tackle, hoping to surprise him. Everyone at the field was surprised at the move, unfortunately for Madokawa, she still missed. Mid flight she thought, _'Kami I'm an idiot.'_ The ground once more accepted her with open arms.

Gaara snorted at her, "That wasn't very smart huh?" a smirk appeared on his face again.

Lying on the ground Madokawa tried to calm down, _'Getting PO'ed isn't helping. I need to calm down in order to win this' _Standing up, she smirked right back at him, "Alright gaki, enough playing around. Now I'm really gunna kick your butt!" _'It's now or never'_ she tried the frontal assault again, this time however she was in control of her emotions.

_'Kuso, there goes my advantage. Well hopefully I get a good work out now.' _He rushed to meet her head on. While she was still unable to strike Gaara, it was much more difficult for him to escape her hits this time. Although, this time he began to strike back. Unfortunately neither was able to land a solid blow on the other for some time. Seeing an opening, Gaara was able to score the first blow. Using his advanced speed, he quickly moved behind Madokawa kicking her in the back sending her sprawling forward. Not one to let an advantage go, he rushed forward. Knocking her down he quickly pulled out a roll of ninja wire and tied her arm back to her adjacent foot. Then he sat on her back and held her other arm down.

"Argh, let me go!" Madokawa struggled to throw the child off her back. Grunting, Gaara struggled to keep his hold on her, "Not till you stop trying to kill me." She wiggled a bit more but Gaara held firm. She then completely relaxed, "Alright, I'm done. Can you get off now?" Smirking, Gaara jumped off her back, watching her struggle to get herself untied. "Argh! Untie me dammit!" Smirking, Gaara pulled out a kunai, cutting Madokawa free. "Well see ya around Uchiha." Turning around, he hastily left the training grounds for some much needed rest, _'Man, that fight took a lot outta my stamina. I really need to build that up if I plan on using that technique all the time. Sigh.' _

Sitting up, Madokawa rubbed her sore wrists, "Well how did he do Itoko(**3**_)_?"

Seemingly out of thin air, a boy appears. Garbed in a loose fitting turtle neck shirt, white shorts, and standard ninja issue sandals stood Uchiha prodigy Itachi. Helping Madokawa to her feet, "Hmm, he is strong for an eight year old. Especially one from no clan. It would be wise to train with him." Crossing her arms, Madokawa looked away with a pout, "I don't need that gaki's help." Letting a small smile cross his face Itachi countered, "Well that gaki just beat you. You sure you don't need to train with him?"

Madokawa's face colored with embarrassment and anger, "I beat him the next time. Believe it!" Setting his face in a calm visage, "Well then, you better increase you training to keep up with him." Patting Madokawa on the head, Itachi leisurely walked back to whence he came…where that is.

When she was positive she was all alone, she sighed, _'I can't believe how strong that kid is. He's eight for crying out loud! He should be like little Sasuke-chan, still playing with wooden kunai. Not graduating the Academy with people five years his senior. At the top of the class no-less! He doesn't even belong to a clan, he shouldn't be this strong. Now that I think about it, I get the feeling like he didn't use his full strength on me. I will beat him. I will get stronger than him! That's a promise!' _Jumping to her feet, Madokawa ran off to another training ground to train till she dropped!

* * *

Looking over his village, he aloud a rare smile to cross his face, which was obscured by a white vile. _'When I first created him, I had high hopes. That one day, because of my creation, my village would once more be prosperous. As the first few years of its life past it didn't disappoint me. All I had to do was give it anything it wanted and it was putty in my hands. To mold it to anything I wished. Eventually, it wanted the one thing I couldn't give it, _friends_. I was surprised. I wondered what it could possibly what friends for. I told it that I couldn't do that for no one in the village other than myself was willing to come within several yards of it, and at first it accepted it.' _

_'But as time went on, it became so spoiled that it tried to force people to be it's friends. It began to harm my villagers. I was angered, but there was nothing I could do directly, so I plotted ways to have it eliminated. If it was set on harming the people I created it to protect, what was the point of it existing any longer? However, before I could put my plans in motion, it disappeared! For five months I had my ninja search the village, but they could find no trace. On one night, it returned looking almost exactly how it was before the disappearance, as if it was never gone in the first place. I then decided to wait and see if it would continue in its greedy tendencies for a one-sided friendship.'_

_After a month of watching, it became apparent to me that it gave up on searching for friends. Apparently, after five months hiding(_I was convinced that it was hiding from me because it some how found out I was going to terminate it)_ it decided to give up. So, I continued its' training. I still gave it anything it wanted to placate it. Now, instead of childish toys, it asked for weaponry of all kinds. It confused me greatly, why get weapons when the sand it could use could replicate those same weapons? Well it doesn't matter, so long as it follows orders, I couldn't care less.' _Snorting, the Kazekage(**4**) turned back around to face the papers that were in need of signing, sitting upon his desk. _'I wonder what new weapon Naruto will ask for this time.' _With that last fleeting thought, the Kage of Sunagakure(**5**) got back to working on the bane of Kages every where; paperwork.

_

* * *

_

_'Creating puppets gets boring after awhile…ahh who am I kidding, it never gets old! Ha-ha. I have outlines for some many puppets, unfortunately…I'm not skilled enough yet to make most of them…man life sucks sometimes…oh well ha-ha…man this is sad, I'm talking to myself…I really need a friend.' _Sighing, Naruto turned away from the rising sun, and began to jump from building to building, headed for his home. '_I wonder how far Kankuro has reached in the art of puppetry, maybe he would like my help, or if he's farther than me(_ya…right)_ he can help me.' _

***Twenty something odd minutes and several rooftops later***

Entering his room threw his bedroom window, Naruto thought, _'Now if I were Kankuro, where would I be? Hmm most likely in his workshop, tinkering with a puppet. That's my best bet, ill go there.' _Which a determined nod he set off to Kankuro's room. Knocking on the door, he waited patiently for his brother to answer. Hearing a crash and some grumbling set Naruto on edge, _'I hope I'm not disturbing him, oh well to late now hehe.'_

When the door finally opened, Kankuro's head poked out, glaring and the cause of the disturbance. When he realized who it was, he paled, "umm y-yes Naruto, w-what is it?"

Naruto's brows furrowed, "I was wondering if," here he looked down so his brother wouldn't see his blush of nervousness, "I could help you with your puppets." He finished in a rush.

It took Kankuro several minutes to compute what his little brother had said. When it sank in he looked surprised, "You know about battle puppets?" he asked incredulously. Naruto blushed again, "I know a little, hehe." His hand began to scratch at an imaginary itch on the side of his face. Kankuro looked a bit suspicious then, "How did you get information about puppets?"

Getting in a thinking pose, Naruto answered, poking his tongue out his mouth, "That's a secret." Getting a bit frustrated Kankuro said a tad childishly, "Well I don't believe you! So ha!" Startling Kankuro by jumping back and pointing his index finger at him, Naruto shouted, "Oh ya, well ill prove it, release!" Whipping out a scroll and unraveling it in one movement, he placed his hand in a half hitsuji seal. With a small pulse of chakra, a blast of smoke was releases. When it cleared, it became apparent that it wasn't just smoke that appeared out of the scroll. What appeared shocked Kankuro to the core.

There, floating in front of Naruto was a battle puppet, but what was so shocking was that it was custom made. A typical puppeteer in Suna used a standard battle puppet, which was originally created by a traitor to the hidden sand, Aka Suna No Sasori or Sasori of the red sands, the greatest puppeteer to come from Suna. The designs of basic puppets Sasori left behind were used mainly for the fact that no one could create better ones that didn't take a long time to produce. Sasori's were excellently crafted and easily mass produced. So custom made puppets were rarely made. Why try to create something original that would be hell to repair if damaged if you could get one already made that's easy to replace? Simple, you don't.

From what Kankuro could see, the puppet was excellently crafted, easily on par with Sasori's own standard ones. It was fearsome to see as well. Standing_(floating technically)_at a good five foot five, the puppet was humanoid in general shape. The only distinguishing features it had were located on its face. Its eyes were a hauntingly blood red color. Its mouth wide open, like it was trying to fit a large amount of something in it. It was cloaked in a two piece sand colored outfit. The bottom half was a skirt like cloth. The top covering was draped over its shoulders hanging down to its abdomen area. It was open showing its wooden crafted chest. Its main choice of weaponry was a double bladed staff. Although it didn't look like it Kankuro knew the puppet was riddled with hidden surprises.

Seeing Kankuro's dumbfounded look of wonderment, Naruto couldn't stop the look of smugness to shine on his face, "I call it '_Kentanka'_(**6**). Amazing ain't it?" Not hearing any form of agreement, Naruto looked around his puppet to see his brother still dumbstruck by his puppet. Sealing away his puppet, he hoped to get his attention, "Hello? You still alive?" waving a hand in from of Kankuro's face snapped him from his daze.

Kankuro focused his gaze on Naruto, then exploded with questions, "Where did you learn to make puppets? What can it do? How many puppets have you made? How good are you are controlling them? Where did you get all the parts needed to make it? Can you teach me? Please!" by then Kankuro was on his hands and knees begging in front of his now favorite sibling.

Naruto grinned uneasily, "Umm sure I don't mind. Actually this is what I hoped for. We can help each other!" Kankuro jumped up, "YES! Lest go!" Kankuro then attempted to grab his brother, which resulted in Naruto's sand to jump up and block him. "Oww that hurt! Why did you do that?" Suddenly very afraid, hoping that he did just lose his first friend he hastily began to apologize, "I'm sorry, I really am. That sand is automatic. Anything that comes near me it stopped no matter what. I hope you forgive me." Shoving aside his fear, Kankuro rapidly put on a smile, "It's ok really, I get it. You don't have control of that. It's not your fault. Well anyways lets go in my room so we start making puppets, ok?" Happiness rejuvenated, Naruto nodded rapidly, "Hai!" Both boys rushed into the room. _'I finally have a friend! I won't ever mess this up! That's a promise." _

_'This is really Naruto. I thought he was a monster. I guess I shouldn't have listened to those people. I should have gotten to know my little brother. I'm going to make that up starting today." _

Kankuro was suddenly struck with a thought, "Naruto, how many puppets have you made?" Naruto smirked, "Five." Kankuro's eyes nearly popped out of his head, "F-f-five? Ca-can i see them?"

Motioning Kankuro to back up, Naruto pulled out the scroll he used earlier in a flourish. Laying it out on the floor, Naruto focused his chakra with a half hitosuji seal. Raising his arm to block the sudden rush of smoke, Kankuro waited for the smoke to clear. When he was sure all the smoke left the room, he dropped his arm, and his jaw followed not a second after. _'Holy Kami!'_

_

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_

**I'm back! Sorry for taking so long, but I finaly updated. Translations are below.**

1-Crazy puppet loving teacher

2-Brat

3-Cousin

4-Wind Shadow

5-Village hidden in the sand

6-Glutton

**If you want to see an accual image of the puppets Naurot and Kankuro will be getting, I am going to be posting links to them on my profile as they are introduced in the fic.**


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